1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image combining apparatus for combining photographic image data entered from image input means, and data read from a handwritten original (manuscript).
2. Related Background Art
Along with the recent pervasiveness and the technical advances in photographic image input apparatuses such as a digital camera and a color scanner, and in image output apparatus such as a color printer, various methods of use are being proposed on digital photo images.
Such images are not only captured and printed on a printing medium, but are often utilized with various processing and editing in various manners. For example it is proposed to send a photograph with an inscribed message as a letter, and also to paste a photograph with an inscribed title or illustration to an album.
For adding a handwritten message or illustration to a photo image entered from an image input apparatus, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. S63-040933 discloses a method of displaying the input photo image on a display apparatus such as a liquid crystal panel, and inputting a handwritten image through a touch-panel input apparatus provided in the display apparatus, thereby combining the photo image and the handwritten image.
Also Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H09-139832 discloses a method in which a handwritten original, written on a paper sheet different from an input photo image, is read by a reading apparatus and is combined with the photo image.
Also the printing apparatus is increasingly provided, not only a printing function, with complex functions such as an image reading function and a memory card slot for accepting a memory card, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H05-122496 discloses a method, in such printing apparatus, of combining and printing a photo image in a memory card and data read in a reading unit.
Also such image combining is not limited to a photo image data and a handwritten image, but the data superposed with the photo image also include a photo frame or a message of a predetermined pattern.
However, in the case of drawing a message or an illustration on a photo image, by selecting a background area other than a person recorded as a main object, the prior methods involve following limitations.
The touch-panel method mentioned above allows to draw a handwritten character or an illustration directly on a photo image while observing the photo image, but requires a display apparatus and a touch-panel input apparatus which lead to a high hardware cost, and an ability of expression is inevitably restricted as the image resolution of the handwritten input is limited by the resolution of the display apparatus or the touch panel.
On the other hand, the original reading method mentioned above has the advantages that a handwritten original can be prepared in a simple and easy manner and that various expressions are possible depending on the type of the writing utensil, but involves a drawback that, as the handwritten original is drawn on an original sheet separate from the photo image, a superposing positional relation of the handwritten image with the photo image cannot be confirmed exactly at the preparation of the handwritten original.
Also with an increase in the data to be combined, such as photo image data, data handwritten by the user, a photo frame etc., the combining has to be executed plural times on the data of plural contents, thereby resulting in a large burden on the resources used for the combining and also in a long process time.
Also at the image combining operation, it is not possible to know how the content to be combined and the content written by the user are positioned after the image combining.